While summer officially began last Monday, June 20th, 2016, half of “summer” has gone by as July approaches. Within that time span, I presented my new novel in Spanish, Aries Point (Isla Negra Editores) at Librería La Tertulia in Old San Juan on May 28th. Also in that time span, I delved into an array of eclectic readings connected to some of my favorite subjects: Latina leadership, new beginnings, animal lives/rights, border issues, and classics of literature. I now share the list of books with a bit of commentary.

To cap off the semester, I read Memoir of a Visionary: Antonia Pantoja (2002), which is a fantastic read about the courageous Boricua community leader and ASPIRA founder. Once grades were turned in, I read Tom Cox’s The Good, The Bad, and The Furry (2013), for lighter yet thoughtful reading, especially about a special cat named The Bear (@mysadcat on Twitter). Following the joy to read about animals and their unique quirks, I immersed myself in the recently released, Esther, The Wonder Pig by Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter (2016), while at the Cincinnati airport as well as in flight.

Next up was Claribel Prado’s Tru (2016), an engaging first person account about life before, mostly through, and especially after divorce, while flaunting the cultural/personal self that cannot be subdued. Accompanying this book, was my reading also of Adriana Candia’s Mujeres eternas (2016), a lively and keen collection of chronicles about not just life on the border between Mexico and the United States, but the lives of women in that conflicting as well as culturally-rich space. The sixth of the six “feature-length” readings from the last weeks is my re-reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby, after more than 20 years.
These are all highly recommended, and if I were to pick three to highlight, I’d choose: Memoir of a Visionary: Antonia Pantoja, Tru, and Esther, The Wonder Pig.